My exciting adventure: bra class!

Tomorrow I leave for Canada to take a 2-day class on how to sew your own bra. I’m pretty excited about it. The bra makers of the world at some point while I wasn’t paying attention seem to have decided that all bras must be padded. Well, all bras for anyone under a certain size. I literally have not been able to find a single bra anywhere that fits me that isn’t padded. It’s tragic. At one point I thought I had found a style I liked and was told they didn’t manufacture it in my size. They don’t even make them.

It’s true that my search might not have been as exhaustive as it might have been, but I think visiting every department store in the area, a slew of outlet stores, and a specialty bra vendor at the sewing expo is about as much time as I’m willing to put in before I give up and say screw it, I will learn to make one myself.

The bra sales ladies tell me that it’s just a little bit of padding “for modesty” or that the padding is only at the bottom “to give you a little lift,” but to that I say, Modesty? Like, I should be embarrassed about the fact that I have nipples? That I am a mammal? That’s something I need to be modest about? and We can’t pick them up without resting them on something so they look bigger? Really? Because I like looking down and seeing the body that is familiar to me, not some different body created when I wear this padded monstrosity.

I remember buying my first bra with my stepmother, and she insisted on getting me a padded one “until I filled out a little.” I did not really ever fill out all that much. And I basically think of padded bras as false advertising, which anyone who knows me will tell you I feel very strongly about. I want no part whatsoever of any false advertising. So bra class it is!

The class is in Canada, and my route to get there will take me through Buffalo, NY where I will get to visit with an old work friend. I’m hoping I’ve got the energy to visit a college friend as well who lives about an hour from the town where the class is held. I doubt I’ll be posting any photos of anything I make, for obvious reasons, but I’m hoping I can at least eke out an account of my progress with the class.

Wish me luck! It’s going to be quite an adventure.